1. Let me begin by admitting that I am not a trained economist or financier. Still I don’t think it is fair for anyone to say I do not understand BR1M and the good things about it. I have in the past made some decisions on economic and financial matters which seem to have given good results for the country.

2. I have been opposed to giving monetary handouts as a way to increase the income of people right from the beginning. If at all financial aid should be given to the very poor who are unable to work to earn an income. My primary objection is because handouts on such a scale look too much like bribery. And when this is given near elections or the manifesto promises this, the impression that it is about buying votes just cannot be dismissed. If incomes are to be increase it should be by way of creating opportunities for work or business.

3. But BR1M has more negative implications than that. It increases the tendency towards personal dependence on the Government even for one’s income, without any effort by oneself. It weakens the character of people and reduce their competitiveness in the market place.

4. We want high incomes. But high income should come from increases in productivity. High productivity results from better education and training. A manual labourer cannot be more productive than a mechanic or a craftsman. And they in turn cannot be as productive as an engineer. The ability to increase productivity comes from greater added value to the products.

5. It follows that when we promote industries with greater added value, than the incomes of employees would increase due to greater contribution of the employees. We should note that in countries with big Government revenues from the foreign exploitation of resources, and people are given a part of the revenue to sustain a good lifestyle, there is a lack of desire to work.

6. Giving money does not increase productivity. Without increasing productivity, competitiveness will not improve. And the economy will not really grow. These countries invariably depend on foreign workers, executives and entrepreneurs.

7. When Malaysia adopted a policy of encouraging labour intensive industries, it was because at that time the people were jobless and had no income. After that to increase their incomes we switched to hi-tech, knowledge-based industries and our people are educated and trained for these more sophisticated higher income industries.

8. We can increase their wages further by adopting new technologies and management systems. Our workers should now be involved in designing new products, producing prototypes, testing and mass-producing. Marketing and sales of these more sophisticated products will also increase incomes.

9. We want to be a developed nation by 2020. We think that this can be done by increasing average incomes to a certain level. This is misleading. A few people with very high incomes will distort the average income. Per capita income should not be a measure of our achievement of developed country status. The emphasis on high income alone is not enough. In fact by itself it will not make the country a developed country. It would be even more misleading when the income is due to handouts by the Government.

10. To be developed we have to be at par with these developed countries in terms of education, technological and industrial knowhow, research and development, industrialised to a high level, commensurate infrastructure and high earned incomes for all.

11. It is imperative therefore to spend money on education and training to a higher level, to build up engineering and industrial capacities, to be productive and competitive, to expend money on building first-class infrastructure and to be researchers, inventors and developers.

12. Since we want to be developed in our own mould, we can reject the moral values of some developed countries. We see them obviously decaying because of the emphasis on unlimited materialism and personal freedom. We must sustain the good values that we have and acquire good ethnics which will contribute to our productivity and our income. In other words we must earn our income through higher productivity and not through handouts by the Government. The Socialist and Communists have tried to improve their people’s incomes through giving them money and making free availability of support facilities to ensure they have a good life. But Socialism and Communism have failed. They have to resort to free enterprise and hard work.

13. Finally we must not forget that Government money is derived through taxes on the people. Taxes raise the cost of living. Still the people are willing to endure raised cost of living because they expect the Government to give them security, to govern the country well, to have policies which benefit the people generally.

14. But the people would not like to see the taxes they pay to be expended in ways that are beyond this. Certainly they would not want their hard-earned money to be expended on winning popularity for anyone or political parties or administrations.

Smart consumer???
check price before buy??? Meaning spend more to do research..and also kill those reseller business that do not have good source of product.

Brainless job. We paid so much to “hire” them and in return got rubbish.
is a superb good idea of getting money from communities…. But thr idea is sucks in controling.. A leader wd pre analyze before execute. Onky fine tuning small mistake….but the current mistake is too ugly being as a leader to conclude , support and executive….really tak masuk akal langsung

1. smoke?
2. have ASTRO? (or other luxurious items – not basic necessities)
3. have smart phones? (or have more than one smart phone per family?)
4. have credit cards?
5. have new nice/decent cloths? Shop every month?
6. have at least 1 car? (if one is not able to maintain a car, then one is not supposed to own a car.)
7. have at least 1 decent house?
8. eat/drink outside very often? Wasting money?
9. ‘sihat tubuh badan, cukup sifat, muda/bertenaga’, boleh bekerja lebih masa?, etc.

For the needy, we have ‘Pusat Zakat / Baitulmal’ (Muslims), and we also have ‘Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat’.

Muslims must know that, ‘tangan yang memberi lebih baik/mulia dari tangan yang menerima’, and we need to improve ourselves (higher income) in such a way that we become ‘pemberi zakat’, not ‘penerima zakat’.

I am amused (‘geli hati’) reading about how difficult life is for some people and BR1M is needed in helping them to solve their never ending problems. By the way, I do not have ASTRO, and my phone is the old Samsung galaxy ace.

‘Hidup mesti berdasarkan kemampuan/pendapatan masing-masing’ – ‘Live within our means’.. We must know to differentiate between ‘needs’ and ‘wants/desires’.

Saya setuju dengan Tuan Haji Amin Tan.Jika semua orang bekerjasama dengan hati tulus ikhlas seperti di zaman Rasullulah s.a.w.Saidina Abu Bakar r.a dan Saidina Umar r.a. tidaklah kita berada dalam keadaan kita sekarang.
Tetapi janganlah kita lupa.
Those was the best time populated by the best people meant as guidance how it is meant to be done.A sublime benchmark.
A divine accomplishment.
Those benchmark is 100% we called them as idealism.
What we have here is down to earth terra firma is reality.
The idea is how to bridge the gap between the aspiration of idealism and reality.
Tuan Haji..
The world is cruel,because it was meant to be.A handicapped.
In a fistfight some times ago my standard opponent will be three.
Why three?
It is unfair.
Because we cannot move 30 against you any givent moment.We will if we can.Simply we must pounded you into submission.
Submission because of compromised principal is not my cup of tea or cofee.
I can be overwhelmed time and again in battle.
Again and again.
But the war must be win at the end.
The winner will be pronounced as

Dear Tun,
In my opinion those who are against BR1M are inherently stone hearted and have no compassion for fellow humans who are unfortunate to be needy. They insist one must work to earn to stay alive. There shall be no charity whatsoever!!! What a cruel world!!!

I was utterly shocked when they announced BR1M for the first time, and in the subsequent year that they are increasing the amount. Sad part of being a middle income earner is that you pay the most tax and get the least benefits. Worse, is seeing my hard earned tax money, was not managed and used well by the government and the BR1M recipients.

Bernama. ” Singapore’s World’s Best Place to do Business, Malaysia Among Top 20 : EIU Index. Malaysia’s very own National News Service promoting information from Singapore’s
Ministry of Information in continuance of its deliberate Policy to brainwash us. And Malaysia’s own Government Agency is ever ready to help !

These are the little drops of poison which have been dropped into our subconcious minds for decades using the very best Ultra Communistic methods to do so.

No one asks why is Singapore is the best place to do business. The answer is crystal clear. The tiny Republic of Singapore has nothing to offer.

If we look further, we can actually rank it with the famous Cayman Islands, Grenada, Virgin Islands, Jersey, New Hebrides, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Gibraltar, Mauritius, Seychelles etc. which are all the World’s Best Places to do Business. The vital difference is the full-fledged military of 300,000 active reservist, brigades of aging Gurkha guards, F35s, drones, Apaches, AWACS, Hercules, rusting tanks, long range artillery, 9 submarines, spies complete with swallows, ducks and tycoons, a S$2 billions water reserve, bomb-proofed buildings, secret caverns, a humongous ballon etc. And the Ultra Communism’s ultimate weapon to finish off our beloved Malaysia, the TPPA. We sign. We all die. Singapore lives.

It is time for all Malaysians to stand united. It is good for all Malays to stand united. It should be a given that the non-Malays stand united with the Malays in the face of constant threats to ENTRAP AND ENSLAVE US from tiny places which think they can punch above their little weights. IT IS NOW PROVEN THAT THIS IS ALL A LOT OF HOT AIR. Why the tiny Republic of Singapore gave a virtual image of success is the adoption of the ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM COMPLETE WITH THE APPARATCHIKS AS CREATED BY ITS RULER to entrap all the citizens money over their lifetimes. In this scenario, only the 0.01% can be rich – extremely rich. This is the MONEY MONEY MONEY Policy of the tiny Republic of Singapore. This System (1959-2014) actually produced no Billionaires of note. Those Singaporeans who became wealthy became Malaysians during the NEP and have become Singaporeans again except for one who used the telephone via Batu Pahat to make his riches. See how fantastic our beloved Malaysia is. Singapore can only import billionaires annually these days to bolster up heer GDP.

For our beloved Malaysia to succeed, WE MUST NOT APE THE MONEY MONEY MONEY POLICIES OF THE TINY REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE WITH ITS ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM AS SET UP BY THE RULER ! This is the Cult of the GDP as some detractors of this belief has pointed out recently. One of them highlight that the new Government of Indonesia has now moved away from this CULT OF THE GDP. This is sensible. As Tun Daim has pointed out what is the use of a high GDP when our Rakyat have no jobls or food on the table ? See the sufferings of the Singaporean proletariat amidst all the wealth and glitter in Orchard Road as expressed via their independent websites !

THE MALAYS AS THE HISTORICAL GROUP IN THIS LAND SHOULD STAND STRONGLY UNITED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEMSELVES AND OTHERS. We have come a very long way through the centuries and some of our Royal Houses are even more ancient than the Royal House of Windsor which was invited to rule England from Germany in the 18th Century. We have proved to be able to work and lived together for so many centuries. Our beloved land is full of resources. We dig, we plant and we get. LET NOT OUR JEALOUS ENEMIES SEDUCED US AND MAKE US SHOOT OURSELVES IN THE FOOT ! Certain forums have been set up in the tiny Republic of Singapore to BRAINWASH young minds to flatter them how great they will be. All you need to know is recorded in the Singapore’s Straits Times. Acheh !

Our Malaysian Democratic and Open Capitalistic System is as good as any. Let us study why the Republic of Indonesia veers from the CULT OF THE GDP. I believe it is a wise decision. We now see the bad effects of the MONEY MONEY MONEY POLICES OF THE ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM OF THE TINY REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE AS CREATED BY ITS RULER WITH THE 28 FAILED POLICIES ! The only one that works efficiently and holistically ( I copy ) is the ULTRA COMMUNISTIC POLICY AS CREATED BY HIMSELF taking the very best out of Communism for the 0.01% elite !

Everyday, I am very happy that all of us, THE MALAYS AND THE NON-MALAYS are fortunate to live in Malaysia. Our distinguished Prime Ministers have built a lot and can only do so much. It is up to all Malaysians especially the Malays with their historical heritage which is unique in this World to STAND UNITED AND LEAD THE NON-MALAYS FOR OUR BELOVED MALAYSIA TO BE IN THE FORE-FRONT OF THE WORLD with normalcy, humility and courtesy ! We have the best in everything, the Royal Houses, the Constitution, the Religion, the NEP, the history and all the Rakyat who always had FAITH AND LOYALTY TOWARDS THE BN GOVERNMENT for over 57 years and the natural resources and vast expanse of land in an equable climate !

As I have said many times before, I speak without fear or favour . Our beloved Tun did not give me any money, favours or titles. AND YET I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY AND GRATEFUL TO HIM. ALL OF US ACTUALLY ARE FORTUNATE TO LIVE IN THIS BELOVED LAND MALAYSIA. And yet many who benefitted want more and more. MONEY MONEY MONEY ! The sooner we get rid of this thinking IMBUED IN US BY OTHERS THE BETTER. Why ? WE HAVE ALREADY GOT THE MONEY MONEY MONEY ! The tiny Republic of Singapore have NOTHING. THIS IS THE KEY REASON WHY THE ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM WAS CREATED TO SUCK IN ALL THE CITIZENS MONEY OF A LIFETIME FOR THE 0.01% ELITE ! MONEY MONEY MONEY !

Do you see the FLAW in this ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM ? It is no use having all the MONEY MONEY MONEY in a country like President Bongo Bongo in the Congo who owns all the diamonds and the rest of the people dirt poor. SUCH SYSTEMS CAN ONLY BLOW UP SOMETIME.

See how FORTUNATE WE MALAYSIANS ARE IN OUR MALAYSIAN DEMOCRATIC AND OPEN CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM AS CRAFTED BY OURSELVES ! Our Malaysian Style Democracy can only be complete with an Opposition. AND FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE AN OPPOSITION WHICH IS VERY RICH AND INTELLIGENT !

Yes ! We have a long way to go to achieve our common aims of a perfect country. But no country can ever be perfect because ourselves the human beings are still trying to be perfect. And so it is that WE ALL STAND UNITED AGAINST TINY FELLOWS WHO MEANT MUCH HARM OR TAKE ADVANTAGE OF US because we have been NAIVE, HOSPITABLE AND FRIENDLY.

With the discovery that the tiny Republic of Singapore has an ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM COMPLETE WITH APPARATCHIKS FOR THE SOLE CONTROL OF ITS RULER as compared with our ENDURING, RESILIENT, FAIR AND TRANSPARENT POLITICAL SYSTEM, which System would you have ?

MALAYSIA BOLEH ! MALAYS BOLEH ! MALAYSIANS BOLEH ! As I explained before why ‘Malays Boleh’ is a Chinese leader of the Opposition once said he would be quite happy to be the THIRD FIDDLE TO THE PRIME MINISTER.

Dear Tun,
I wish to elaborate on my previous posting on the benefits of BRIM(Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia).
It is a form of charity or aid to help the poor, those who do not have income or whose incomes are considered insufficient to maintain a decent standard of living. The economic effects of BRIM is the direct opposite of the increase in patrol price or toll on the highways.
The economic effects of BRIM is to increase consumption in the economy. It is a form of expenditure and therefore expansionary in nature. Being expansionary means it is a stimulus similar to the American QE(Quantitative Easing). Aggregate Expenditure is made up of aggregate consumption and aggregate investment. Most people understand investment as being productive like to invest in construction of MRT or investment in setting up of a printing press. Whereas, they consider charity of RM1000 per household for subsistence is not productive as the household does not produce anything when receiving the aid or cash. Nevertheless, the money will be spent and thus creating increase in aggregate demand which in turn will stimulate supply. The resultant increase in supply means increase in employment of factors of production. The total increase in aggregate demand is said to be fourfold if three quarter of incomes is spent and one quarter is saved. This is called the multiplier effect.
BRIM does no harm to the economy at all except positive effects to the economy as a whole like the unemployment benefits and Quantitative Easing of the US. It has the effect of anti recession by creating demand due to the extra money available for consumption.
Our country is highly productive. We use automation and digital technology in the production of goods and services. For example a newspaper printing press uses high speed web offset printing press can produce 300,000 copies of newspaper over night. These finished product need to sell in order for the owner to make profit to stay in business. Since many people now have money from BRIM, THEY CAN SPARE some cash to buy SINAR HARIAN newspaper and increase circulation. The same goes to other production houses. Production of Proton cars, the loaf bakery and hair saloon would all rejoice in increase in demand due to BRIM.

Out of the many headlines in the naive, friendly and hospitable UMNO owned New Straits Times in recent days, one struck my eyes. ‘ Success of the New Economic Policy.’ New Straits Times Tuesday 18 November 2014.

Out of the blue, the Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail produced something which is not only inspiring but firmly underlines the success of our beloved Malaysia in picking on the right theme, politically and socially to move forward. Some folks who were with the NOC, were there too but unfortunately, they forgot about the NOC and the NEP by the 21st Century which in time and in history, will be GREAT BENCHMARKS OF OUR BELOVED MALAYSIA’ S WELL-DESERVED HISTORY WHIICH WILL CAST A FAVOURABLE LIGHT ON THE MALAYS despite their unreasonable detractors ! What is so important about the NEP ?

Next to our Constitution, the NEP is an important historical and poltical document with the purpose of ‘ to quote ..eradicating POVERTY and restructuring SOCIETY.’ It was not a two-bladed sword designed to finish off one community and bring up another concomitantly. The NEP was a sword designed to finish off POVERTY AND RESTRUCTURE SOCIETY TOGETHER.

My close observation of the MCA produced an entirely different view of its leadership during the early days of the NEP – the 1970s. The NEP was hit by the unfortunate demise of our great statesman Tun Abdul Razak and in April 1974, the change of the control of the MCA from the towkays to the small town Mandarin speaking boys took place. The latter eradicated their own poverty and restructured themselves. This poor leadership left its mark in the problems of the Chinese today.

The NEP began purposely only during your 22 year Administration from 1981. It was 10 years late for full implementation until your distinguished tenure which always had ‘ SOVEREIGNTY, NATIONAL INTEREST, SELF-ESTEEM ‘ in mind. Your attempts to rectify unjust Agreements with others also were benchmarks on this theme. You definitely did not sell our grandmothers down river.

And in the shortness of valuable time, you brought up the 3 MILLION FAMILIES GROUP OF MIDDLE INCOME MALAYS WHICH IN TURN BROUGHT UP THE NON-MALAY MIDDLE INCOME GROUP BY THE PURCHASE OF THE LATTER’S GOODS AND SERVICES ! WHERE IS THE BASTARDIZATION OF THE NEP ?

Let us not forget only 2% of the Malays had a stake in the Malaysian economy up to 1971 ! Up to then, it was still a British colonial economy so to speak ! Then, the British owned 70% of the best assets, the Chinese 25% of the third rate and the rest 5% ! Your significant achievement has not been duplicated anywhere till Communist China turned to the wonders of the capitlalistic system to save themselves in 1982 ! For this achievement alone, Tun, you deserve the NOBEL PRIZE which the brilliant fellow hankers for but has NO SUBSTANTIVE RECORD TO CONFIRM. AND ON CLOSER SCRUTINY OF THIS BRILLIANT FELLOW’S MODUS OPERANDI, IT IS FOUND THAT HE IS ONLY A COPY-CAT OF THE COMMUNISTS BY THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ULTRA COMMUNISTIC POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEM to serve the 0.01% elite in this World’s Best tiny island of 3 million indigenous souls from 1959 – 2014 ! A virtual tropical isle wrapped up by fallacies or bluffologies.

Yes ! It is true that some Malaysians given a chance to do big businesses failed. At that time, Russia and China did not turn capitalistic yet. But in latter years, we note that their oligarchs and princelings also failed sometimes. This was due to the follies of the human being, the lack of information and business skills which could only be garnered through time and tears. This was only human ! It was a small price to pay within the GENERAL CONTEXT OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE NEP !

The NEP was the ultimate building stone of our great Nation which we have all determined to make it a success. From 2003 and even today, it does pay for those interested and have time AND IN THE POSITION TO GOVERN AND RULE OVER US not to study this NEP of Malaysia in order to put their thoughts, aspirations and ambitions into perspective in the World of Realpolitik.

All Malaysians gained during the short period of the NEP. Those who say differently must have not been born, blind, deaf or dumb. And with the incessant chatter from the Opposition these days in their futile attempts to turn back our glorious history for want for anything to oppose, it is time for all Malaysians to realise that the BN Governments have succeeded to put our beloved Malaysia on the right road with our style of Malaysian Democracy since 2003 !

The newly discovered ULTRA COMMUNISTIC POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEM OF THE TINY REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE does not justify for the very rich Opposition parties to use SINGAPORE AS A BENCHMARK FOR SUCCESS ANYMORE IN THE FACE OF ITS FAILURE ! In fact, Singapore is already a FAILURE IN THE PRACTICE OF JUST, TRANSPARENT AND TRUE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE ! Even the most deliberate and audacious attempts to BRAINWASH ALL AND SUNDRY EVENTUALLY FAILED IN ONE SINGLE LIFETIME !

Yes ! Our Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s predecessors Tunku, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn built the foundations of our great Nation. It was Tun Dr Mahathir Moahamad who completed the building called Malaysia but he has left the finishing touches to his successors who will not fail him and those before him and all of us, because this wonderful building Malaysia is an on-going process which will NEVER BE FINISHED !

And if the politicians care to listen from my view as a voter, I believe we need new leadership that will safeguard & protect everyone. A leader must protect the people, the environment, uphold justice. How can leaders decide to raise their own salaries, when some people in the nation are hungry or in desperation of healthcare? Is that leadership?

I never voted because I have yet to see that leadership.

If you want to win the next election, pls bring that leadership. I want someone who will protect me even when I fall ill & become skeletal – not a leader who only appreciates me when I am rich. The nation must protect & help each other, not look down on certain castes. Before I have told you to please sponsor the real stars, and I am telling you again if only you will listen…

And if you will kindly read, I wrote a certain post called Action! after your criticism of the malays. Because Dr Mahathir, I hope you will want to know my grandmother. She worked very hard as a rubber tapper, she toiled with her energy. Yet if she is not even special in this nation just because she is not rich – this saddens me greatly. It grieves me. So please if you have consideration for the “unrich malays”, I plead – don’t promote that she is less & lowly just because she was not rich. Yes, she was just a manual laborer who taps rubber, she is poor so who cares of her sickness & exhaustion. But she did benefit us, she benefits the nation – it’s bcoz of her Malaysia can produce rubber & make your proud Proton cars. In a sense, she is a part of the success story of Proton – what is a car without tyres.

If only this nation will recognize her.

I truly wish that this nations will not look down on the contributions of the manual laborers & learn that without them, your engineers will not have the materials to work on. Everyone plays a part in the nation, and I dream of a day when everyone who is useful is appreciated – that is the dream nation. To be truly successful is to contribute & be useful, to have high morale & goodness.

So please listen to good advice. What is success is NOT about wealth. If it is really about wealth, then why would you wonder why people are corrupt, Dr Mahathir, this is why people do anything just to be rich. Nation I plead, please listen. Success is to contribute & be useful, to have high morale & goodness. In the first instance, everything is free – the water is from the rain, the bricks is from the earth, the food is from the trees, the hardwares are from the metals, the softwares are from skills & knowledge of how things work. So when citizens volunteer their workmanship & distribute resources efficiently, the nation can still achieve a high tech civilization – even without money. I truly believe it is not impossible, it’s like an ant colony. Isn’t that beautiful, God Wills.

Finally. Dr Mahathir, may I advice that environmentally, the world cannot continue its high carbon – high consumption – high waste lifestyle, in which it calls as “development” or “productivity”. Wasteful consumption needs more energy to supply it, which means more (carbon) emission. Since the Industrial Revolution, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, now at its highest in 2 million years. [pic graph | nasa, epa]

What we need is balance in our lifestyle. This lifestyle is the right way.

I may have not been a Prime Minister, but I hope I have given good advice.
I am not sorry my grandmother was a rubber tapper. Proton, please say thank you to her.

Govt Authority has to Stand Tall to be Respected especially the Police Force
I see and observe all of Malaysia Authority Immigration , Custom , Kementerian kesehatn
Failed to be Stern and Incompetnace of their Duty
Thus does not gain public respect and more and more crimes commited
Perhaps the Leader are such thus the body and the tail have no direction

Dear Tun,
Please allow me to comment on your write-up on BRIM(Bantuan Rakyat 1 malaysia). I beg to dispute your allegation that BRIM is a form of corruption. It is not a form of corruption or bribery to buy votes. It is meant to help the poor and needy in our society to alleviate poverty and overcome the negative impact of poverty, irrespective of political, racial or religious differences. It is not illegal as bribery because it has no political connotation neither is it done during the election campaigning period.
BRIM is charitable and merciful(amal jariah) and I am sure it is islamic as well.
From the stand point of modern economic theory, the effect is similar to that of the famous Keynesian Theory.
Contrary to what you mentioned as not productive, it is indeed positive in effect and a direct injection and stimulus to the economy enhancing aggregate demand and creating employment of factors of production. The total effect of BRIM can be quantified as fourfold due to multiplier effects as described in the economic textbook.
If in England they have the unemployment benefit, in Malaysia we have simplified the merciful salvation of the poor by BRIM.

Assallammualaikum Tun.
Saya mohon ruangan.
[ Think hard why there are poverty]
Dear Mr balance.
As always you look only one half of the equation.Allow me to give my perspective on the other half.
First the Orang Asli people or community that we ( our small time dakwah team ) visited have not much ambition to begin with ( not meant to stereo or monotyping ).
They can sat idly at the fire place staring at them for hour’s.
My former Dato’ Pengarah classified this as ‘lembu kenye’ ( fully satiated bull ).
Cannot do anything to change the situation.
My experience and knowledege tell me the people must come to the system.
Or..
We can make the system come to the people.
If a patient cannot eat or refuse to eat,he or she shall die.
So we step in and intervene by employing drip of all kind.
Let me die..the patient pleads you..
Are you going to let them?
Let Malaysia economy die so we will teach the present management of what not to do.
Let’s rock the boat and we all shall perish.Together.
You jump..I will jump?
No way mister.
I must let you understand there is other life than monetary again.
The musyrikin of Mekah claim if Muhamad s.a.w can turn the mountain surrounding into gold only then they will become muslim.
Worse still some demanded Rasullulah s.a.w to cleft the moon asunder!
He did.
And musyrikin kept their promise?
Off course..
NOT!
Simply can we do better than a person blessed name Muhammad s.a.w.?
Or the lesser blessed Mahathir Mohd?
Off course..
NOT!!
Simply.
We must do what we entrusted to do.
The pertinent question is are you doing it the MACRO way?
orYOU BE CONTENT PERFORMING IN MICROSCOPIC ENVIRON?

For many many years I was puzzled by the retort made by the richest man in Asia. It is alleged someone said to him, ‘ You are the richest Mr L in the World ! ‘ He replied promptly, ‘ No ! It is the fellow in Singapore !’ Gentlemen, after studying all the facts recently, I agree entirely with the comment by Mr L, the richest man in Asia – a case of zero to hero or how money could be created without money using the political and social system – ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM in which all the wealth is controlled by the Ruler ! Where are you DAP !

There are no such thing as ‘sugar money and “free money” but there are “hard earned money” Money can grow with correct environment, attitude and intention. Think hard why there are poverty. Blaming someone taking your money is a foolish idea as money do not recognize it owner. Money come and go and only stay at the most suitable place. So check it out why money stay at Robert or Vincent pocket. To learn is better than blame so do a research why money stay at one place and no the other. Every human on earth have equal change it is how they use it. We all have the same 2 hands, 2 legs, 2 eyes and etc.. why someone can and someone cannot. Dont look upwards for answer look deep inside and be grounded then you will see. To tell you a story of my good Malay friend, he inherited a small rambutan and durian orchard from his father. The orchard only contain kampung durian with innovation and vision he get the Govt agency to help him to replant. While the trees are growing he stay selling fish in the market in the morning and at nighttime he sell fish at pasar malam. Cut the story short, today is own many many orchard and land. He now become shareholder of a real estate developer as his land are now consider prime land. He did not sell the land like many does he go into JV with Chinese. He still continue operating his fishmonger business with many stores and own many fishing vessels. If anyone ask him how he become successful, he will tell you that he only use the chinese method, that is think long term, pure hard work and no showing-off. Best part he is still driving his proton. How many are like him? Dont look left, right, below or upwards for answers just look inside and all answers and solutions are there.
Once the fingers start pointing and looking for faults the danger of failure are very very high. Why not look for things to learn and progress? This world possibilities are unlimited. Cannot be “sugar king” then be “ikan king”. There are still many many titles (billionaires) to claim just work on it with every part of the body not just the index finger.

For Abu Alya. If you compare the ULTRA COMMUNISTIC SYSTEM OF SINGAPORE AS PLANNED BY ITS RULER, IMPLEMENTED BY THE APPARATCHIKS AND BOLSTERED BY THE GOLDEN EQUATION OF the CPF-HDB-Quit Rent & Assessment-Income Tax-GST-COE-Meritocracy-Judiciary with our Malaysian Democratic and Open Capitalistic System, you will find ALL THE WEALTH OF SINGAPORE IS CONTROLLED BY THE RULER. And this is confirmed in the latest book, ‘ Big Ideas of Lee Kuan Yew ‘ – a FESTSCHRIFT in honour of the BOSS BY THE APPARATCHIKS ! In Malaysia, we have separated the Executive, the Legislature, the judiciary independently from each other. This is proper governance without conflilct of interests like all other Democracies.

OUR DEMOCRATIC AND OPEN CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM IS IDEAL TO REDUCE POVERTY because in practice each Adun has to serve the constituents who are not conned by the Government with opaque magic shows with thick smoke and broken mirrors schemes. In practice, if the big bucks are seen to be properly spent, then POVERTY should be reduced year by year NORMALLY !

I am quite confused on a few things that has happened. BRIM has been issued to help the poor but the actual handout is given based on EPF or income statements. Now i find this to be the root cause of the issue. – Anyone can create an income statements vis a vis a legitimate one to justify their lower income which is not true. Thus the gov hands out Brim under the pretext to help the poor. When the gov itself does not have the validation or the proper definition of POOR. I am confused on the entire mechanism that surrounds BRIM.

Second question / confusion that i have is this. It is a sensitive question but i think you are the only one in the country who will have the aptitude to understand this.

To be a developed nation, Can we still have a Bumiputra status for the local majority?
This is something i am quite interested to know as I am not sure whether other development nations actually have this mechanism in placed for its majority.

Please share your thoughts as I would certainly hope that this is not to steer any wrong remarks but as a Malaysian i am quite concern that we would go down the road of Developed nations but with a different “Malaysian’s context” which the world might not accept.

For Abu Alya. Your comments are right in one way and generally sweeping in another. I do not disagree with you. I can comment on this without fear or favour because I received NO FAVOURS, MONEY OR TITLES FROM TUN. I am just a NATIONALIST LIKE YOU WITH GREAT CONCERNS FOR OUR BELOVED COUNTRY AND ITS RAKYAT RICH AND POOR. Please give me a chance to explain from the brass tacks.

From 1960 to 1970, no one in the Federal Government really knew how an economy worked because we have not given a chance to manage our own money. During this period, the Currency Board polic9ies ruled even though a Bank Negara Malaysia was established in 1958. A Currency Board is set up by the British in all their colonies – YOU SPEND WHAT YOU EARNED. From 1957 to 1976, the British owned 70% of the best assets of our country, the Chinese owned 25% of the 3rd rate and 5% ( Malays 2% ) others. My Malay friends returned in the early 1960s and found they had no money to buy anything, no even a pair of corduroy trousers, a pair of brogues etc. The economy was very slow moving. There was not much buying and selling unlike now. We fast trek to 1970. Folks from the NOC are still with us. Through the foresight of Tun Abdul Razak and the UMNO elites, the NEP was fashioned and launched. The non-Malay political parties were weak and led by unqualified leaders who were in the dog house for playing the wrong moves in the tumultous events leading into the 1969 General Elections.

The Malay portion of the general economy still remained at 2% until the gaining of control of Sime Darby by Malay interests in November 1976. The ownership and eventual repatriation of Sime Darby PLC arose out of a concept by me in January 1972 which was supported by Tun Abdul Razak and YBM Tengku Razaleigh. They both understood the importance of the control of big businesses by the Malays through the purchase of these in the open market and the benefits which will accrue to the Malays and the Malaysians in time. My vision in 1972 was like what Temasek is doing now in the 21st century, use Sime Darby to control foreign automobile concerns, light engineering outfits, etc with their established markets and know-how. And let the Malays and Malaysians manage them BUT AFTER THE CONTROL OF SIME DARBY, it became an elegant British trading house again. However, this is another story. British assets were cheap in the 1970s. Unfortunately, Tun Abdul Razak died. He was a great personality, a great gentleman and a great Statesman who had a vision, a will and determination to do good for all of us, not only the Malays.

Fast trek to 1981, the political and social developments of our beloved Malaysia were actually 10 years late even with the acquisition of Sime Darby and one or two other entities. There was NO IMPACT.

IT WAS OUR TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD WHO HAD TO CATCH UP WITH LOST TIME. He did during his distinguished tenure of 22 year of his Administration.

HE CREATED THE 3 MILLION FAMILLIES STRONG MALAY MIDDLE CLASS GROUP WHICH BROUGHT UP THE 3 MILLION FAMILLIES NON-MALAYS MIDDLE INCOME GROUP THROUGH THE PURCHASE OF THE LATTER’S GOODS AND SERVICES ! Please do not forget no one in the World has ever done so lifting a group of people with nothing from a colonial environment into the MIDDLE CLASS. Also please note at the same juncture, the tiny Republic of Singapore screwed down their MIDDLE CLASS from 100% to 62% 1959-2013. OK. Saudara Abu Alya. This alone is fantastic. BUT TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD LAID THE GROUND WORK OF ALL THE INFRASTRUCTURES WE SEE TODAY BUT DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT.- Petronas Towers, Putrajaya, Langkawi, Tioman, Perhentian, highways, KLIA, Pontian, North Klang Port, Bintulu, Sarawak Highland Resort, Sabah Gas Works, Kota Kinabalu Universities, more colleges and schools etc. etc. The enhancement of values for us all.

But between 2003 – 2014, we see only loss of our NATIONAL MONEY AND ASSETS.

Now, where do the Chinese bILLIONAIRES COME IN THE FAVOURITE WHIPPING BOYS OF SOME ?

1. One Singaporean Chinese banker began in 1965 with a piece of paper.
2. Another had a paper licence to make sugar to replace the sugar imported from Hong Kong and United Kingdom. He guaranteed constant supply with constant prices for 53 years. This no mean feat.
3. One Singaporean Chinese had a licence to make steel rods which no one wanted to do to cater to the housing boom to come after the 1970s.
4. Another Singaporean Chinese offered to set up banking branches all over Malaya and its small towns to cater to the Civil Servants in the Ulus if given a banking licence. His bank became successful on a single concept.
5. Even the billionaire who does not like to kow tow to his own Prime Minister had a measure of justification. He became useful nationally after there was a huge power outage in Malaysia and was able to set-up a power utility in good time. The early bird catches the worm.
6. One billionaire who collect Stradivarius violins and on lent them to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra but not to the KL one, is not CHINESE. He was only an assistant in a tin can factory when he began.
7. One Singaporean Chinese came to see me in February 1969 when he was not a billionaire.

There are more but we dealt with the multi-billionaires first. And now we come to the Malay billionaires whom I will mention generally. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave equal opportunities to all, the Malays and the non-Malays. After all had been assisted, IT IS NOT HIS TASK TO MONITOR THEM OR CHECK THEM ALL THE TIME. His famous note book is not to catch the recalcitrants but to keep himself aware of the follow-ups in Government affairs. Even in Russia and China today, these countries have no long tradition of doing business like in India which began in the 19th century. Because it is dangerous to permit Tom, Dick or Harry to own and manage key businesses, this is the reason why we have oligarchs and princelings in businesses. If you study the business structure of ALL countries around the World including the ULTRA COMMUNISTIC REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE, you will find there are many businesses owned by people connected with the ruling elite. If you cannot detect them now, you would have if you retrace your steps backwards sometimes to the 19th century. THIS IS THE NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN BUSINESS AND POLITICS IF IT IS NOT FLAGRANTLY ABUSED.

1. Malays billionaires and multi-millionaires hit by unexpected crises. Some of these businesses were bailed out by the Government. My view is that these Malay billionaires and multi-millionaires should be given the chance to own the businesses again if they have not broken the laws or new Malays given the same chance.
2. Successful Malay billionaires are many. I know a few from their very early beginnings. They were all assisted by TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD who assisted everyone including those in the OPPOSITION !

The alleviation of poverty is on-going all the time. This is why there must not mis-allocation of big sums of money in the wrong pigeon hole as all monies are required to reduce poverty. The sure-fire way of reducint poverty which is our just conceern is to provide education and jobs and jobs for all. The hands of a Government is tied either by politics or by red-tape. Hence, nearly all former Socialist States except the great United States PRIVATISED THEIR BUSINESSES INTO PRIVATE HANDS for quicker revenues for the Government and the quickeer creation of jobs for all. Cash hand outs are no panacea to poverty. This is the grave concern of our Tun and Tun Daim. PIECE-MEAL EFFORTS TO REDUCE POVERTY DO NOT WORK ESPECIALL WHEN UNDEERTAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT. IT IS THE PRIVATE SECTOR WHICH HOLDS THE UPPER HAND IN THE REDUCTION OF POVERTY. A Government can only provide the infra-structure and reduce costs through efficiiency and less corruption. It is no us for the Rakyat to see big big bucks swirling above their heads when they have no jobs and no food on the table.

The failure of some Malay billionaires is due to lack of information and know-how and not because the Government gave the wrong people the chance. This explains WHY THERE IS NO BOOK IN BORDERS, KINO, MPH OR POPULAR TO TEACH US HOW TO BE A BILLIONAIRE! But many books on MANAGEMENT.

SAUDARA ABU ALYA, HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT WHY OUR TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD CAN CREATE MONEY OUT OF NOTHING AND OTHERS INCLUDING THAT BRILLIANT FELLOW CANNOT ? You are right. Billionaires and their ilk have a duty also to reduce POVERTY in this land.

Giving tons of ‘sugar money’ to Robert Kuok and also the ‘free money’ via unfair mega project handouts to so many Chinese billionaire tycoons under the guise of doing business is a much greater sin than the BRIM handouts to the mostly poor Malay recipients.

Since the Chinese business tycoons and their political cohorts, after accumulating immense wealth with the (UMNO) govt’s help, are not giving back to the ‘Malay’ sectors, and not keeping with their promise to share the nations wealth, even to the point of rubbishing the NEP objectives, it is only fair deal for the poor Malays to receive this small compensation from the govt.

The BN government failed to eradicate poverty especially among the Malays, Tun has a 22-year share on that, because of shady dealings the BN govt had had with the Chinese business people like Robert Kuok and Vincent Tan etc etc, there is no economic equity for the Malays – so now, it is payback time !!!

Before, you gave free money to Chinese Billionaires. Now, you complain for the crumbs that the govt throw at the poor Malays. What hypocrisy is this?

As Salam Tun,
1. Agreed TUN, there no need to be an economist or financier to understand BRIM. Laymen can understand, its giving money in return for support .(Bribery? What say MACC?) YES TUN, you have done a good job especially during Soros (you call him Moron) Asean financial fiasco in 1997 which you refused to accept IMF assistance (Malaysia is the only Asean contries not taking) and manage to architect back our financial health by establishing Danaharta, Danamodal and so on.Salute to yo for your bravery! What I understand from sources, main reason you disagree with IMF terms is that :-
a). Bumiputra policy must abolished;
b). Liberalization of our Financial Institution. [correct me if I am wrong]

2. Agreed TUN , by handouts there is no productivity and people will expect more every year. You rightly point out creating more opportunities and train more workforce will be the way forward. Instead of increasing Skills fund (TPPK) every year, the Govt. is reducing it! and small “Pusat Bertauliah” are closing down.

3. Lastly can we ask the Govt. to make research any positive impact of BR1M compare during your time where no BRIM is given and your famous words to the business people:-

‘Business people are Govt. partners, you make profit we have share from the tax, you loose money Govt. don’t share”. I feel your Govt. is more pro business.

Brim will broom the govt to bankruptcy
As Malaysia Govt much rely on the produce of natural resources
unlike S,pore govt they had their revenue from Taxes Summonses & Fines
I dare to say most of the Tax submition the Malaysia Govt did not reap vey much as there,s lots
of loop holes unfounded as Malaysia Authority are not competance
There are lots & lots & lots of matters that Govt has to put Right

i know i was not eligible because my 2 hands and my 2 legs still in working condition..
however, i also know a lot of people whom their 2 hands and 2 legs wasnt in working condition…..i try to do my best to pass my BR1M for them….

they did apply for zakat and jkm aid, some of them are the recipients, but …..ZAKAT and JKM aid has many flaw that we also aware….

for your article, i do agrree with you about productivity and i did right about this in my blog……BR1M should be GR1M or ganjaran rakyat 1 malaysia……the recipients only be rewarded by their contribution to the society……a criminal doesnt commit crime anymore, he drug addict doesnt buy crack anymore, the man doeesnt join riot so on and so fore and thats pencegahan…..

look on penggalakkan where we can reward the eligible recipient ie a old man plant a tree, pick a rubbish, an oku man clean surau, masjid, church eetc..a woman offering free tuisyen/mengaji class…..a family practice healthy and lovely life……and many many way of rewarding…

by offering GR1M which need a little/big effort to cash back the money, the other not-qualfied group wont be so upsad because gr1m group did not get for free…….

however, i wont say najib mess up with BR1M because he only try to balance rising cost of living cause by pak lah increments policy…..how many of us did object when pak lah raise government staff salary?????no one because we, yes me and u(if u accept) were selfish which cause inflation, cost of living, good and services price etc….

There is another dimension to this discussion which has not been addressed adequately. The type of economy we wish to be should be a strategic decision built around carefully planned and thought out policies.

Malaysia may not be the type of nation where technology is likely to be a pursuit of the majority of its citizens. It does not have a history or a culture that relates to modern scientific technology or is based on technological advances of its own. But that’s not necessarily the end of the world.

Malaysia’s economic advantages is what it needs to tap into in order to give it that edge over others. Its physical position as a nation in the busiest waterway of the world is under utilized. In fact it has been ignored and only developed to a cursory level of being a “pass through” point. There is nothing that Port Kelang and Penang for example can offer passing shipping traffic today of any significance other than to be a halfway point of the overflow from a more organized Singapore.

Singapore’s position as a port could have long been undermined by Port Kelang and Penang ports if the country had visionary government during the time of the Tengku. Instead, post independence governments complied with the wider British for the region especially after Nasser’s example of using the Suez canal as a tactical weapon against Europeans (independence war in Goa and the Suez crisis). The west did not want another such potential threat and nurtured a break away republic in Singapore which they protected and continue to do so in THEIR interests.

Economic advantage is something that has to be unique to a market or country’s character, existence and its abilities and not simply a list of aspirational statements. Malaysia is not India, not China and not Sweden. It is a tropical paradise with rich fertile soil, a hardworking and diligent population, lots of fertile soil, an educated population to a large part and aspirations that are incompatible with its means and ability.

“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. Instead of building breweries and “exercising democratic rights to drink or irritating the majority with a different name for God like “allah” instead of God the focus should be on producing food crops for the insatiable appetites of China and soon India.

The Chinese have purchased vast tracts of arable land in Africa (where they are beginning to feel the local political heat of their avarice) to do just that. They need to supply their food needs long term whilst they destroy their farms for gleaming high rise metropolis construction and factories for the world’s consumer demand.

White farmers kicked out of Zimbabwe have parked themselves in places like Mozambique and even Uganda with returning Indians who once dominated these places and have begun transforming the landscape into highly productive farms with captive Chinese markets for their produce.

Malaysia is much closer to China than Africa is. But very few people in government have had the foresight to develop this field of economic endevour properly as a long term industry. Yes there are farms in Cameron Highlands with imported illegal labour. Thats poor management and a recipe for disaster. It is about “smash and Grab” opportunity to cash in on a trend then run.

WIth large scale illegal immigration to run these farms cheaply comes the social and political (eventually economic) problems that go with it. Already the socio racial demographic is changing in Malaysia. The Malays of tomorrow will be less like the Malays of today.

The growth of the Chinese in Malaysia with their stealthy entry in numbers (thanks to the department of immigration looking the other way) means it won’t take a coup for them to take over as they did in Singapore.

The growth of the Chinese as an economic, social and political bloc will eventually mean they would only need a swing of about 3% over the next decade to topple the Barisan. And that is a reality.

Loyalties will not be on the basis of tribal lines or along kampong or their community affiliations. That would have changed because the voter will be part Malay, part Chinese, part Bengali and part god knows what. They will vote with their grievances and the hand outs. No present government can prevent that unless it is competent and has that vision.

The two above examples are merely that. There is more than Malaysia can do than to log the forests and leave it bare with a handful of rich timber loggers and large numbers of unemployed (eventually) coolies and support staff.

Malaysia is not Korea or Japan. These two countries were the recipients of US and other western largesse after the war. it was part of the foreign policy of the west to stop Japan rising again as a power and in Korea’s case to prevent the North spreading communism to the south. In order to achieve these aims the US purchased all these two countries could produce with US dollars to stop them becoming independent of the US.

Eventually after Nixon floated the dollar, the Japanese became the owner of the US economy because they had enough US dollars in their reserves (from all that buying and selling with the US) to underwrite the US economy after the fall of Saigon.

When comparing countries with each other we have to “compare apples with apples” and not apples with oranges. It is essential to remember that although there are some commonalities with us as “Asians” or humans, there is more that divides us and make us unique which we need to realize when making comparisons.

What I observed is that the manual labor is not working, really, so I don’t even dare to think about productivity. If the labor is not working hard enough. The word “working” is not up to the standard that can be said as productivity.

And don’t even think about creativity (creative business, creative arts and etc) in this era in M’sia (in this “traditional” era). People have all sorts of excuses to reject the new inventions (Many things remain the same and not improving). That is very demotivating, and this slowly kills the creativeness in M’sians. I don’t know what is the real reason, but I find that “a reason is never a reason” if one always has excuses to not accepting it. Sometimes, I also think that is because the Malaysians have ego and selfishness in themselves yet they are not good (at all. So, how to compete with others? May be they don’t even think of competing with other. Maybe no competition makes life easier). Their heart/mind is not open to accept new things, I think this is related to education. Why is the mind of Malaysian not improving even the educated people? Why are the people not improving? The M’sians mind are so “kolot”, and this kind of thinking is passing to the next generation (Sometimes I don’t know how to face it. But of course there are a little people that are not like this).

From my opinion, the education is a bit stuck (may be not a bit but a lot). Education is making people more knowledgeable, but it seems “terbalik”. This is very serious problem. How can students go to school but they don’t learn? I am not mentioning about how many A’s they get, but the knowledge and values. They don’t apply what they learn in school (May be they don’t aware that things they’ve learnt in school actually can be use in their daily life). Learning is about using the brain and think but not spoon feed. Many people follow but not analyzing. (I’m sorry, is a bit out of topic. But I think things I mention is closely related to your topic) If people learn to think, then they will know things like taking money does not increase productivity and etc, they will understand the whole picture:((

please, do not worry on how the government gets the income. we have..
1) a lot of people can be fined thru JPJ enforcement on fancy plate numbers
2) crude oil price dropped, but we can maintain the price cap at RM2:30 and electric tariff rate maintain too
3) gst is coming, if 4% is not enough we can up to 6%, if still not enough can balloon to 12%, am government what…
4) tax here and there..
5) high incomes like ministers or ADUN should not be effected..
6) 1MDB is giving good returns, on paper
thus, BR1M is not an issue here, so please, vote for BN!

1. You may not be an economist nor an accomplished financier, nonetheless your good business sense whilst practicing medicine by opening a fairly successful private clinic in the 1960’s.., as well as your good economic sense as also being the Finance Minister in the late 1990’s that had saved the country from being totally ravaged & engulfed by those International Financial & Currency Rogues by your superb handling of the currency crisis issue that had plagued many nations during the East-Asia Economic Crisis (at the time).., have surely put you in the good books as a prudent, able and capable leader in handling economic and financial issues. Even those international currency rogues cannot deny that fact.

2. I can somewhat agree with you that by giving out monetary handouts is not a wise financial practice.., despite the fact that I have been a recipient of BR1M for the past three straight, consecutive years. However, I cannot say that I am ungrateful for receiving such a handout because one would be a fool and arrogant to – ‘Tolak rezeki yang datang bergolek’. Within less than a few days I had spent the entire amount to pay for some utility bills and for some grocery expenses. Such handouts cannot keep me going on indefinitely and what more to repay those that I am monetarily indebted to. You are again correct to suggest that, if at all financial aid should be given to the very poor who are unable to work to earn an income. That is the precise concept of the justified Islamic economic order of Zakat. However, BR1M does not justify of such a concept where a total house income of less than RM3,000/= qualifies the recipient for such BR1M handout. BR1M recipients (receiving say RM500/=) in urban areas of (say) Kuala Lumpur is facing more monetary burden & challenges as compared to other recipients in the remote areas such as (say) in Lahad Datu, Sabah or in Selama, Perak because the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between such areas are so varied and wide. Regardless of the good intentions of the Federal Government in helping out the so-called ‘needy’ ones, nonetheless the notion by certain quarters that bribing the low-income group so as to be ‘favourable’ towards the ruling government cannot be discounted.

3. And besides, by continually keeping the low-income group under sustained subsistence is not good practice for the nation, which may perpetuate the dole-mentality effect and curtail positive productivity amongst the low-income group.

4. You are once again correct in suggesting that high income is resultant from the increase in productivity. Increased productivity cannot be perpetuated when dole-mentality and over-dependence on subsistence so glaringly apparent. Heavy ‘investment’ in education and training of the human resource should be the prime objective. South Korea is one example where they had heavily and totally ‘invested’ in their human resources after their nation had been totally devastated during the Korean War in the early 1950’s. Malaysia (or Malaya) at the time was by far more ‘prosperous’ than South Korea after the Merdeka Days in the late 1950’s and in the early 1960’s. However today, productivity-wise South Korea is well ahead of Malaysia.

5. In Malaysia, commercially productivity-wise apparently the Chinese are far more productive than the Malays & Bumiputras. Why so..? Well, because ethnically the Chinese have been long involved in business and commerce as compared to the Malays and Bumiputras. The Chinese have captured most of the nation’s economic cake as compared to the other races. Therefore, by being trained as engineers or accountants does not necessarily make one to become very productive if such professionals are merely employed in the government sector. However, if such engineers or accountants are enterprising enough to venture into their own businesses as construction contractors, property developers or perhaps as practicing in their own consulting or accounting/auditing firms, then commercially such trained professionals would be far more productive.

6. Of course by merely handing-out money does not increase productivity. However, by creating, assisting and developing well-trained and committed entrepreneurs shall surely ensure greater productivity for the nation.., especially from the SME level and onwards.

7. Time and situation continue to keep changing. Long after Malaysia’s independence, diminishing are the days of the labour intensive industries. The days of Hi-Tech, communication & information-based have arrived. Merchandise bought and sold through the cyber-stores & online-shopping websites & portals over the internet & cyberspace, such as these below:-

have now these days become a norm. In this regard, have our local cyber expertise and trained human resources prepared and geared themselves to create new e-commerce and web-site & portals to capture for larger markets globally in producing & marketing our local products (and even services) to all over and every corners of the earth..?

8. New technologies cannot be developed and advanced if our mentality do not encourage in cultivating fresh, new ideas, creativity and innovations. We should never kill a creative or an innovative idea however ludicrous it may appear to be at the outset. Never allow the bureaucratic attitude & tendencies get in the way of developing and advancing new technologies.

9. Increasing the average income (per-capita income) onto a certain level shall not necessarily ensure the advancement of technologies and to remain competitive. It may instead increase the unnecessary high-cost of living and create further burden towards the lower income group. If that could the case, thus should further handouts like BR1M be further extended and enhanced..?

10. To be a developed nation, Malaysia must be technologically advanced with well-trained and very efficient work-force. Well-trained & efficient in such a way that one person can perform the work-task of (say) at least three persons (within the same amount of time) of the workforce or a less developed nation.

11. It is not only imperative to spend on education and skill-training, but to develop productive entrepreneurs and industrialists (especially developing those commercially lagging-behind Bumiputras) by the droves, who shall surely contribute to the revenue of the nation via taxation of commercial proceeds.

12. High moral values & good work ethics, imaginative & creative, the free enterprising spirit and pure hard work are some of the worthy ingredients for success and for a developed nation status.

13. The government’s source of revenue is mainly from taxation. And, the government’s major source of income is via taxation is from those who have profited from their commercial enterprise, especially from those Public Listed Corporations. Government revenues from the personal income tax are very negligible as compared to corporate taxes. Meanwhile, the government surely cannot tax those who had received handouts such as BR1M and such subsistence and be considered as the recipient’s personal income.

14. How the government spends the nation’s money is totally within the policy and powers of the ruling government. Whether the BR1M handout is wise and justifiable is a very subjective issue.

However, the government must realise that, as the old saying goes:-

“…Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime…”

Therefore, the government must heavily invest-in, train and develop the rakyat so that they can sustain themselves more than adequately throughout their lifetime without having to resort to the government’s handouts and subsistence. Furthermore, having developed the rakyat to be highly skilled & well-trained (regardless if they are mere rubber-tappers or some unskilled hired-hands), they would in return be of great assets to the nation rather than becoming liabilities.

Billions of Ringgit are being poured yearly into BR1M program to recipients as handouts or as a ‘helping-hand’ (as deemed by the government) to the lesser income household group. Perhaps those billions of Ringgit can be put to better use if that lesser income household group can be provided or offered with other viable programs, schemes or even business opportunities that can be put to good use, so that they can totally sustain themselves throughout their lifetime with ease.., without having to provide them with a ‘BR1M-fish’ every year.

BR1M is an unjust scheme which does not treat all the Rakyat equally. Fairness and transparency are important cardinal principles of good governance. There is the proposed petrol subsidy scheme which also favour one section of our society. These schemes like other ad hoc schemes are the results of the absence of planning previously in anticipation of the hard times to come and all of them were brought into play at a moment’s notice. In a diverse Nation like ours Tun, such hasty Policies will bring us into ruin through the Rakyat’s perception. We are a country with a population of 30 millions – a Titanic of sorts and not a little wooden boat bopping up and down in an ocean. Your exhortations to those who held the reins of power after your distinguished 22 year Administration, to do good, to do normally fell on deaf ears. The Mother of all tsunamis arrived long, long ago – to be precise, October 8, 2008. Even the World’s Best Third World to First World country, the tiny Republic of Singapore officially lost US$108 billions on Wall Street in a jiffy and they have not recovered yet. From 2004 – 2009. a trillion ringgits flowed out of these shores at a time when we do not see or feel anything worthwhile to benefit the Rakyat even though a GDP of 5-6 % was reported annually. AND SUDDENLY, THE PRICE OF OIL PER BARREL IS US$77.00 ! And the alleged snake oil personality was assuring the World that Malaysia’s future is fantastic and our GDP will be 5% – 6% in 2015, no problem. OK. OK.

The question I ask holistically ( I copy ) and innocently when are all these Putrajaya amateurs, snake oil salesmen, round pegs in square holes or square pegs in round holes, salaam or kow-tow the failed Republic of Singapore and 2 masters Civil Servants etc types going to run for cover ? There is no return for not investing the public funds productively and holisticallly for the benefit of the Rakyat at home. The billions and billions of ringgits have been sucked away in long term investments overseas with short term borrowings or the Rakyat’s hard earned cash. How to retrieve all these money when the Government has a recurrent expenditure so face every month – THE BILL FOR THE CIVIL SERVANTS SALARIES ? This is only one Bill alone out of many.

Tun, here is a true story. I know a friend who is the youngest son of a rich family. When his father died, the 12 sons became millionaires. None of the sons worked thereafter except for the youngest whose eldest brother took away all his inheritance. The other sons thought they were all like their father, astute with the Midas touch. But at the end of the day, the 11 sons all died in poverty. The youngest son who had no money, churned and churned from zero base for 30 years and gained RM100 millions through his forced hard-work and forced vision. And the elder brother who took all his youngest brother’s money even though he had 6 capitals and not just one, died a pauper at the early age of 72 ! There is no ALTERNATIVE TO HARD WORK AS YOU HAVE SHOWN US, TUN !

Tun, you are a fine example of hard work coupled with visioin and common-sense. What we see around us today is a lot of WASTE – waste of time and the waste of money even though because of the good medicines and not the good doctors, we all have 100 years. The choice is ours to make – to make our lives very long or very short.

And finally I like and appreciate the two gems in your comment, ‘ HIGH PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS FROM BETTER EDUCATION AND TRAINING.’ and ‘ SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM HAVE FAILED. THEY HAVE TO RESORT TO FREE ENTERPRISE AND HARD WORK.’

I think the practice is called “pork barrelling”. It is an old American phrase used to describe handouts at election time to buy votes especially from the masses of under privileged and those who are in need.

I do agree with many aspects of the ideas you put forward in terms of giving people incentives instead of cash handouts. If BR1M is a policy of hand outs, its a dangerous precedent to set.

Incentivization could be in the form of getting people back into training by encouraging industries to fund the education of their workers as part of their remuneration. To off set that investment by the firm there should be tax reducing incentives offered to the firm by tying their contribution to worker education to a reduction in corporation tax or to income tax. This is because it assists the private sector shoulder some of he states buren in this regard.

Secondly there is the issue of the state itself encouraging savings by either offering new financial products (higher interest government bonds) or encouragement to investment by workers in their employers business so that there is the tendency to remain loyal and productive to the firm whilst also receiving a tax benefit from such investment as a saving.

The Japanese at one stage practiced this. They had cooperatives that owned department stores and supermarkets where groups of companies would pool their resources together to build and operate these supermarkets where families of their employees could shop at a discount. They sold quality products so that people did not feel they were getting “food stamps” for the poor. Dignity is an important factor.

Life insurance and company funded superannuation (pension funds) run by external managers and not the firm itself is important. The scams in the US and in places like Australia, Spain, greece, Italy and Latin America are examples of employers digging into superannuation funds to engage in high risk enterprises. Australia’s labour owned bank and superannuation funds are currently the subject of such scams.

In the mid sixties there was the infamous Mahesan who robbed the cooperative housing finance sector of MYR 10,000,000 then. He was jailed for over a decade for his crime.

When Coopers & Lybrand and KPMG some 2 decades ago sent a team of auditors and investigating accountants into some of the privately owned (mainly Chinese owned) banks in Malaysia prior to an investment by a large British banking and finance group, they discovered nepotism and very poor corporate governance within each of these banks although they were said to be profitable.

The skill of their owners to attract government money through their connections in government departments at the right time and to have local auditors look the other way is legend. Writer Joe Studwell documents these practices very well in his book “Asian Godfathers”. The practice is rampant from Hong Kong, Taiwan,to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The later Tan Sri Khoo Teck Phuat’s run in with an irate Sultan of Brunei over Khoo’s ripping off the Sultan and his state’s investments in that bank is legend but only the tip of the iceberg.

There is nothing like good governance and enforceable regulation and laws. It encourages investment because there is trust. The “smash and grab”mentality does not build confidence or trust and favours the robber baron mentality which should have no place in this day and age.

A nation like Malaysia should encourage people to live within their means beginning from the top. Thats good leadership. when unbridled consumerism is held up to be a virtue by those people in high office, the ordinary citizen thinks it is a virtue and follows it like a religion.

They then blame the state for their own failures and for their misplaced values and priorities. Trust and confidence are two paramount qualities people expect of their leaders and institutions. Sadly both these qualities are lacking in government and in its leaders in Malaysia and no one in government appears to care.

A reliable and dependable government of an authoritarian who can deliver the basic goods needed by their subjects is far better than one whose worth is believed to be measured by the number of private Lear Jets, Rolls Royces and Benz’s, palatial residencies and children at big name universities abroad.

I totally agree with Tun on BR1M. BR1M brings more problems to those with low income. Now they expect the Government to support ‘3 months’ of their ‘belanja dapur’ for their entire life.

PM Ah Jib Gor is trying to emulate the Opposition’s manifesto of giving out ‘free money/handouts’. In fact the situation (‘politik wang’) is going to be worse if the Opposition is in power; Malaysians will receive all kinds of ‘handouts’ (jadilah kita warganegara yang asyik menadah tangan -> lemah); and those with PTPTN loans will not have to pay back their loans. I believe this is one of the main reasons why many young voters with PTPTN loans voted the Opposition in the last 2 elections. This explains why so many still refuse to pay their PTPTN loans (kena bagi pula diskaun ‘DUIT’ untuk galakkan bayar balik ‘hutang’ yang memang wajib dibayar).

Is BR1M a bribery or not bribery (vote buying)?
Is BR1M Wrong or right?
The answer it is both!
It all in the mind and the angle of the view!
If we think it is not so correct or not so beneficial, we must also look from the angle of a person who is old or not physically able to work then these money are heaven send.
You are very correct to say that advancement of productivity, innovation, technologies, work attitude and ethics are the ways forward but are the policies and programs structured to to that. I think only with competition and diversity your dreams can happen. The more we keep the mind door close the deeper the younger generation will fall and so with the country. To think-outside-of-the-box (example inventors) need an open and fresh mind but with such mind the govt cannot control these people. So how how? To move the country forward or to stay in power with minimum effort? Someone or something need to give way and someone or something need to improve. So which to choose?